The brilliance of Edward Hopper is that he was able to be simultaneously specific and concrete yet vague and leave a lot up to the viewer to interpret. In a painting like Nighthawks we see people gathered in a diner, but as viewers we are stuck on the outside looking in. We feel isolated and apart from the scene and as we look closer, we discover that the people inside the diner are isolated themselves. It is not a group of four inside the space but rather a collection of four individuals.

My guest for this episode was Julie Averbach, the founder of smARTee, a non-profit that helps people feel connected and continue their lifelong learning via free virtual museum tours. She is also the author of the upcoming book, The Art of Trader Joe's (https://theartoftraderjoes.com) which helps readers appreciate the subtle brilliance of the grocery chain. Buy the book on Amazon or at your local bookstore.

Arts Madness 2025

Season 11 is all about my Arts Madness Tournament. Once again, I hope you will weigh in on your favorite artists/artworks as we go from 64 down to 1. For this year’s tournament, I put 32 works from the AP Art History list in one bracket, and on the other side, I have 32 artists/works from my personal “Salon des Refusés” that were not included in the curriculum. Voting for Round 1 will begin Monday, February 24. In the meantime, learn about all the different artists/artworks. I will be posting daily mini episodes for 64 days (mostly encore presentations with some updates and new episodes most Mondays).

Arts Madness 2025 links:

Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

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